“Look!” Lyre whispers, pointing straight ahead. My gaze narrows on the darkness beyond the water when there’s abrupt flashes of color—green and yellow, perhaps also blue—before it goes dark again.
“It’s time,” my mother declares before taking off towards the beach.
Part Six
Our love is not a beginning or an end but an infinite constant.
Chapter Seventy-Three: Rhea
“Are you nervous abouttonight?” Elora asks as she shelves a book in the history section of the palace library.
“What is there to be nervous about? It’s just dancing, right?”
I had spent the past week trading magic lessons in the evenings for dancing ones with Nox in preparation for the Autumnal Ball. While the ball is named after the fast-approaching season, we are still a few weeks away from the official start of it. The ball, Nox had told me as I tripped over my own two feet, is a way to honor the transition from summerto autumn, the withering of warmth and life before the death of winter and rebirth of spring.
“Yes, it’s dancing, but as long as you’re on Nox’s arm, the people who haven’t grown used to seeing you around the palace will find you quite fascinating to observe.”
I wrinkle my nose, giving her a book from her cart when she extends an empty hand out to me. “Why does that make it seem like I’m an animal on display?”
Elora snorts. “I suppose, in a way, you are. Not the animal part, but the display part.” Adjusting her glasses, she extends her hand out again for another book to shelve. “This is the first big public event since Nox has returned and announced your courtship. Even though you guys haven’t been shy about the fact that you’re together when you’re out and about, and for the record, youaren’tshy about it.” She looks over her shoulder at me and wiggles her eyebrows as a blush stains my cheeks. “There’s something fascinating about the story that the prince is dating someone supposedly not of noble birth.”
“If they only knew,” I joke under my breath.
“Have you heard anything recently from the council?” Elora asks.
I let out a resigned sigh. Nox had returned late on the third day from his trip to Polatos. He looked as if he’d been riding all day to get home as quickly as possible. Though my magic had shown its disdain for us being apart, writhing beneath my skin enough that I had to expel it more frequently than my usual daily practice sessions, our time apart had otherwise been fine. I trained with Daje, who stepped in for Cass—the latter having gone on the trip as Nox’s guard. I spent time with Elora and Nox’s parents. Elora and I visited Starla and the other children at the orphanage, much to the little girl’s disdain. Though it felt as if a piece of me was missing, I was proud of the fact that I didn’t completely crumple in on myself because of his absence.Nox held me tightly to him his entire first night back, and it took well into the next morning, after joining our bodies multiple times, before both of our magics finally settled.
Unfortunately, the council still seems unwavering in their disdain of me. “No. They have been keeping Nox busy from basically sunup to sundown. He’s studying laws and codes and shadowing his father. It’s almost as if…” I trail off, not wanting to give voice to the worry that’s been steadily building inside of me.
“Almost as if they are trying to keep you guys apart,” she guesses.
I nod my head. “They’ve even suggested moving me to the second floor, as it’s apparentlyimproperfor us to be sleeping in the same room.” Nox had met me out on the balcony on the lower level of the palace for tea right after the council suggested that to him. To say he had been frustrated would be an understatement. “I wish there was something more I could do. I offered to speak to the council again, but Nox said that when he brought it up, they declined.”
“Well, you said King Sadryn changed things, so the council has no say in your relationship, right? Maybe they will ease up with time. Seems like such a silly thing to harp on when, in the end, it won’t make a difference.”
I hum in agreement, reaching for the next book—a tome that necessitates two hands to pick it up. “Gods, why is a book labeledThe Origins of The Albero Treeso large? Surely its roots don’t need this much explanation.”
Elora chuckles, reaching for the book only for it to topple out of both of our hands. Within a blink, pink magic surrounds the book, keeping it from smacking loudly into the cart. She huffs out a breath and guides the book to its place on the shelf, her magic as beautiful as a blooming blush rose. “That was close.”
When the rest of the books on the cart are put away, we bid Rayna farewell and make our way to the second floor ofthe palace. Elora links her arm with mine, her eyes taking in every detail of the autumnal decor that we pass. “Thank you for inviting me to get ready with you, Rhea. Normally, it’s my mother and I arguing about how to do my hair or which dress I should wear. Though she didn’t argue at all when I told her about my custompalace-madeattire.”
I laugh, even as a small pang of longing at the thought of getting ready for something as monumental as my first ball without my mother constricts my throat. With only knowing mere facts about my mother, Luna, and only a handful at that, I think I would have liked her. Or maybe that’s just the wishful thoughts of a woman pining for something she’s never had before. While I didn’t have a traditional mother and father, or family really, I did have the memory of Alexi. Of Bella. I have Nox, Elora, and Cass. Even Daje, a man who is keeping my secret despite who his father is and the power he holds. There are Sadryn and Alexandria, Barron and Sarai, and the countless friendly mages I have encountered in my months here so far. Each of them has filled a part of me that I once thought might always be empty.
I may have lost the family I was born into, but I have made a new one right here. And I am happy for the first time in my life; I can say that with certainty. I am well and trulyhappy.
We pass a door with an image carved into the dark wood—a crescent moon on top of a flaring sun and surrounded by stars. Gold paint fills the carvings, making the symbol stand out.
A woman pops her head out from a doorway farther down, her eyes widening as she beckons her hand to us and shouts, “You’re here! Come, it’s time to get ready!” Elora yelps as more women appear, and she and I are whisked off to separate bathrooms within the suite.
“What is your name?” I ask the lady-in-waiting who starts the water for the tub.
“Elowen, My Lady,” she answers, dipping her chin as her dark blue eyes look up at me from under her lashes.
“Elowen, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to do the shower part myself.”
Sometimes, in my quiet moments while doing something as mundane as reading or going for a walk, the feeling of the night Alexi died would hit me as if I were back there once more. It always felt more visceral than a simple memory. I didn’t only see the blade going through his chest, but I could hear it—smell the iron in the air and feel the wood beneath my knees shake when his body collapsed to the ground. Once, in the shower, Nox was simply rubbing a cloth over my shoulder, and I was brought back to when Tienne and Erica had done the same. It had taken a long while to calm the tremors of my body, to then explain to Nox what had happened and watch his own guilt play out in his eyes. Maybe it was selfish, but I was looking forward to tonight, and I didn’t want it tainted by a nightmare from the past if I could help it.
“Of course, Lady Rhea, it is no trouble at all. I’ll be just outside the room when you’re ready.” Elowen bows, the act surprising me, before she leaves. Some of the palace staff treat me as if I am already a princess, an action that I am still unsure how to respond to. Others hardly regard me with more than an obligatory nod as they pass in the halls. Of all the things I had fantasized about happening if I left the tower, the politics of palace life when dating a royal was not one of them.
